After 6+ years building production Laravel apps, here are the mistakes I see (and made) repeatedly — and how to avoid them.

1. Fat Controllers, Skinny Models (The Wrong Way)

Stop putting business logic in controllers. If your controller method is 50+ lines, you're doing it wrong. Move logic to Services, Actions, or model methods.

// ❌ Don't do this
public function store(Request $request) {
    $user = User::create($request->all());
    Mail::to($user)->send(new WelcomeMail());
    $user->profile()->create([...]);
    event(new UserRegistered($user));
    // 40 more lines...
}

// ✅ Do this
public function store(StoreUserRequest $request, CreateUserAction $action) {
    $user = $action->execute($request->validated());
    return redirect()->route('users.show', $user);
}

2. N+1 Queries Everywhere

If you're looping through a collection and accessing a relationship, you've probably got N+1 queries. Use with() or install beyondcode/laravel-query-detector to catch them automatically.

3. Not Using Database Transactions

If you're doing multiple related writes without wrapping them in DB::transaction(), you're asking for data inconsistency in production.

4. Ignoring Queue Jobs

Sending emails, processing images, hitting external APIs — if it takes more than 200ms, it should be a queued job. Your users shouldn't wait for Stripe webhooks to process synchronously.

5. Skipping Form Requests

Inline validation with $request->validate() is fine for prototypes. For production, use Form Request classes. They're reusable, testable, and keep controllers clean.

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